Categorising human movement in paleo \ hunter gatherer times

The first step is to categorize the types\range of “natural”

human movements. These are all trends and exceptions to the ratings

of intensity and duration may occur. For example, escape from a

predator is expected to be all out and short duration on the vast

majority of occasions but could be medium intensity for medium

duration in an unusual situation.

 

Function	Movement	Intensity	Duration
Food search	Walk, jog, climb swim [carry children]	Low	Long
Chase\stalk (combined or separate)	Jog run sprint dive swim	Low-high	Short-medium
wound & kill	Jog run sprint hang climb dive swim upper body movement	Medium-High	Short-medium
Gather	Hang climb swim dive bend squat upper body movement	Medium	Medium
Escape	sprint, climb, swim etc	High	Short-medium
Carry food\children	bend\squat to lift) Walk & carry	Low-medium Intermittent rest breaks	Moderate
Fight	Mixed pattern eg hit kick grapple weapon usage	High	Short
Migrate	Walk jog	Low	Long
Sleep	Prone\supine posture	Low	Long
Rest	Squat flat foot, on ball feet, 1 leg crane etc Many & varied	Low	Variable
Toilet	squat	Low	Short
Play eg dance, games, socialise	Many & varied	Low-high	Short-long
Prayer, Rites of passage etc	Dance, rest\sleep type postures, search or escape type activities	Low-medium	Short-long
Sex	You already know...	You already know...	You already know...
Exercise	Did not exist per se.	-	-

Resting patterns are briefly mentioned in the table but the amount

of rest will depend upon the amount of effort. In some cultures,

hunters rest every second day as they are tired after the hunt. In

others, hunting occurs every day but the intensity and duration is

less.

 

 Trends start to emerge:

• lots of walking, some more walking while carrying objects and some running\sprinting
•  the full range of human movements
•   rest schedule is related to the workload. Hunter gatherers behave like predators rather than prey and if oppurtunities allow do not engage in “äll out efforts” except uncommonly in infrequent situations eg fight and escape from predator or other danger.